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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Jan-2018
8-Jan-18 World View -- Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans

Web Log - January, 2018

8-Jan-18 World View -- Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans

Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to grow

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans
Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to grow

Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans

Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh (Rohingya Vision TV)

Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh (Rohingya Vision TV)

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has taken credit for a terrorist attack on Burmese security forces on Friday in northern Rakhine State in Myanmar. A military vehicle was attacked with an IED (improvised explosive device), injuring five soldiers.

On Sunday, a statement tweeted by ARSA took credit for the attack:

"ARSA has ... no other option but to combat ‘Burmese state-sponsored terrorism’ against the Rohingya population for the purpose of defending, salvaging and protecting the Rohingya community.
Rohingya people must be consulted in all decision-making that affects their humanitarian needs and political future."

Since 2011, Burma's security forces have been committing mass atrocities on mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingyas living in Rakhine State, what the United Nations says is "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing," and which some Western governments are calling genocide. The atrocities include gang rape, violent torture, execution-style killings and the razing of entire villages, in a scorched earth campaign. Many were forced to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. Today, there are about 650,000 Rohingyas living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Western governments have been demanding that Burma stop the ethnic cleansing and genocide, and agree to a plan to repatriate the 650,000 Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh. However, this entire repatriation plan was always a fantasy, for several reasons:

Burma will give lip service to a repatriation plan, but will never agree to one.

The homes and villages where the Rohingyas used to live in Burma have been burned to the ground by Burma's army in conjunction with its ethnic cleansing campaign.

So they would have to return to refugee camps in Burma, where they would be no better off than they are now.

Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh to escape the Burmese army's atrocities, rapes, torture and other violence, and they expect the same if they return to Burma.

So the repatriation plan is a fantasy that was and is never going to happen, but now Myanmar's government can use the ARSA attacks as one more reason to refuse to agree to the plan. AFP and Guardian (London)

Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to grow

Since 2011, there have been constant genocidal attacks on Muslims in Burma, especially Rohingya Muslims by Burmese Buddhists. They have been led by Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu and his "969 movement," where 969 is a historic Buddhist sign, referring to the nine qualities of Buddha, the six qualities of Buddha's teaching, and nine qualities of the Buddhist community. "969" is supposedly a sign of peace and happiness, but Wirathu and the Burmese have turned "969" into a sign of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

As we reported last month, a UN investigator on the Rohingya crisis was scheduled to travel to Burma right about now, but Burmese officials announced they were blocking any further UN investigations. Yanghee Lee, the lead UN investigator, responded to the ban by saying, "there must be something terribly awful happening in Rakhine."

ARSA was formed in the last year in reaction to the years of ethnic cleansing by Buddhists. The situation in Burma became a lot more alarming after ARSA attacked some Burma border posts on August 24. Burma's army responded with a massive increase in genocide and ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas, forcing hundreds of thousands more to flee into Bangladesh. An analogy in the US would be that after Black Lives Matter killed a policeman, if the US army started entering black neighborhoods and killing, torturing and raping all the black civilian residents, including women and children, forcing them to flee into Mexico.

The refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to grow. The Burmese army is still committing ethnic cleansing, and there are still Rohingyas fleeing into Bangladesh to escape the violence. According to an analysis by Save the Children, more than 48,000 Rohingya babies will be born in refugee camps this year, where disease and starvation are prevalent.

The refugee camps may become completely unlivable in May, when the rainy season begins in May. When the monsoon rains arrive, there is a strong likelihood of landslides, causing shelters, latrines and people to come crashing down on top of one another.

An analysis by Indian journalist Manash Ghosh claims that the entire Rohingya crisis is the result of well-planned strategy by four nations -- Myanmar, China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Each of these countries has a different reason to be part of this planned strategy:

Myanmar, of course, just wants to get rid of all the Rohingyas.

China is investing heavily in Burma's Sittwe port in Rakhine state, to build oil and gas pipelines, and develop Rakhine’s huge and rich untapped natural resources, natural gas, oil, timber, tin and precious gems and stones. In addition, the Chinese hate the Rohingyas as much as Burma's Buddhists do, and would like to see them exterminated.

The Saudis, according to Ghosh, have a religious objective, "to bring the peripheral Muslim groups, like the Rohingyas, under its Wahhabi sway."

Pakistan is having an election this year, and the government wants to create a population of radicalized Rohingyas in order to create an anti-Awami League backlash to win the election.

I always have to chuckle at these bizarre conspiracy theories, because they're always wrong, and because they always overlook the obvious fact that politicians are far too stupid to pull off anything so complex. Still, it's an interesting analysis because it describes some motives that are not otherwise obvious.

Burma's ethnic cleansing and genocide of Rohingyas did not come about from any "well-planned strategy" by a bunch of politicians. It came from the people of Burma, and the fact that Burma is entering a generational Crisis era.

It's the masses of Buddhist Burman people who are bringing about the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas, as I described in detail last year in "9-Sep-17 World View -- Burma's (Myanmar's) ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas witnessed by BBC reporter", as acts of revenge for what happened in World War II. At that time, the Buddhists were on the side of the Imperial Japanese, fighting the British colonists and the Rohingyas. There were massive atrocities committed on all sides, and those atrocities by the Buddhist Burmans, by the Muslim Rohingyas, and by the Christian British, are now being paid back. As that article describes, the murderous Buddhist hatred for the Rohingyas is deep and entrenched, and cannot be caused or prevented by any politicians.

Once the war ended, the Buddhist and Rohingya survivors of World War II did everything possible to make sure that no such atrocities would be committed again. There were compromises -- the Rohingyas could settle and live peacefully in Rakhine State but they wouldn't be given citizenship -- and it was hoped that would be enough to keep the peace. And it did, as long as the WW II survivors were still alive. But now they're gone, and the generations born after WW II are ready to commit the same atrocities all over again. The Buddhists have been committing atrocities against the Rohingyas at least since 2011. Now ARSA is beginning to take hold, and we can expect to see more Rohingya atrocities targeting the Buddhists. Before it's over, all the horrors of World War II will repeated in one form or another. History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. Daily Star (Bangladesh) and Daily Star and The Pioneer (India)

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(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 8-Jan-18 World View -- Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (8-Jan-2018) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Jan-2018 8-Jan-18 World View -- Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans

Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans

Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to grow

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Jan-2018
8-Jan-18 World View -- Rohingya ARSA attack on Burma (Myanmar) police complicates fantasy repatriation plans